- Data shows Gisborne's retail spending rose 18.8% over Black Friday, the highest increase nationwide.
- Store owners remain cautious about sustaining sales through Christmas, despite steady growth.
- Gisborne Chamber of Commerce president Ashley Fisher highlighted the importance of local job availability for continued growth.
Data shows promising growth for Gisborne’s retail sector, but some store owners are still waiting to see if sales can be sustained through the Christmas period.
According to data from electronic payment provider Worldline New Zealand, core retail merchant spending (excluding hospitality and food) for Gisborne was about $900,000 over Black Friday weekend (Friday to Sunday) last month - up by 18.8% from last year.
This was the largest year-on-year percentage increase of all regions in that category, well above the national average of no change year-on-year.
When food was included, the spend for Gisborne was $29 million - a 0.8% increase from last year compared to the national spending decrease of 0.4%.
Worldline NZ chief sales officer Bruce Proffit said in a statement that mixed spending patterns across the country were a reminder that budgets were still tight.
“There were big increases in some of the smaller regions – which were coming off low bases – and a small increase in Wellington and Waikato, but declines in the other two major regions Auckland/Northland and Canterbury.”
How do Gisborne businesses feel about sales?
Tony Field, owner of Tony Field Jewellers, said sales had been steady leading into Christmas.
“We probably won’t be breaking any records - who knows what is ahead of us - but we’ve had some quite steady sales,” Field said.
He couldn’t properly compare with last year before getting through December first, he said.
His store does not run Black Friday sales, which he leaves to “nationwide sellers”.
“Nationwide shopping is quite different to just local shopping. Several people commented on Black Friday but it is usually not a big deal for us.”
Field has operated a store in town for more than three decades, including more than 20 years in the current location, and he feels secure that it offers something unique from online shops for locals.
“We’ve had good and bad moments before and we will have them again. I think in a small town people know people. I think we’ll take it as we get it. We are lucky with what we have got.”
He was amazed at how busy Gisborne’s main roads had been during peak hours - vehicles and foot traffic.
Turning Craftwise - Bernina Gisborne owner Yvonne Carter said the store didn’t run sales for Black Friday, but she had seen an upward trend in sales for the last couple of months.
“Winter for us was terrible. It was just a complete write-off, really, and that made things really hard, but [over] the last few months things have been picking up ... so we are optimistic going into Christmas,” Carter said.
“I’m hopeful we will have a decent January, but February probably won’t be great for us. That is just the nature of our business I suppose.”
Carter said her first year running the business, 2022, was “very good” but 2023 saw a downtrend.
“I think people didn’t have a lot of money to spend so that flowed on to us,” she said.
Owner of the Emporium Gisborne, Jacky Gao, said this year had felt quieter than 2023 for his gift shop.
“Maybe [sales will pick up] in the last week before Christmas ... everyone is preparing gifts,” Gao said. “Hopefully next year is going to be better.”
Local employment and income key
Gisborne Chamber of Commerce president Ashley Fisher said it was hard to say whether the growth in Gisborne recorded by Worldline was sustainable, but it was positive news.
“Happy to hear that and it is in line with the sentiment from the retailers I speak to,” Fisher said.
Sustainability depended on local job availability and unemployment data, he said.
“You expect an increased amount of spending around Christmas, but for that to extend post-Christmas, or at least [be] maintained, if not the level of growth then the level of spending, then people need to earn the income to do that,” he said.
Fisher said there were hopes for growth in tourism and the associated spending in the region, but there were still challenges around accommodation capacity in the CBD and the inaccessibility of key tourist attractions like the Tolaga Bay Wharf after Cyclone Gabrielle.
James Pocock joined the Gisborne Herald as chief reporter in 2024 after covering environmental, local government and post-cyclone issues in Hawke’s Bay. He has a keen interest in finding the bigger picture in research and making it more accessible to audiences. He lives near Gisborne. james.pocock@nzme.co.nz
